


Nothing Seems To Matter

by monkiainen



Category: Eureka
Genre: Bad Decisions, Gen, Interns & Internships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-26
Updated: 2013-07-26
Packaged: 2017-12-21 10:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/899171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monkiainen/pseuds/monkiainen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day when nothing goes right for Zoe Carter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Seems To Matter

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Nathan & Zoe, forced to work together" for the FEST13 at smallfandomfest @ LJ

There are several things one Zoe Stark, aged 15 years, 3 months and 13 days, would rather be doing than working as a slave.. well, technically an **intern** for a certain GD boss. Namely, Nathan Stark. Zoe sighed dramatically and wished that the day would already be over. Yes, Nathan Stark might have been a genius, but he was also a narcissistic, smug, over-confident genius who thinks he’s the best darn thing in the whole world. It might have worked for someone else, but not for Zoe. Nope. No way.

For some reason though his dad, the almighty Sheriff of Eureka, had decided that the best way to punish her for something minor _(“Seriously dad, forging someone else’s credit card is not that big a deal!”)_ was to order her to work alongside Stark. Sure, it might have been fun, if she was allowed to work on something interesting like.. you know, spaceships. Instead she was forced to work on as to why nighttime heat waves had quadrupled in Pacific Northwest. Yay. How interesting.

Although if it was any consolation, the person he was forced to work with seemed to be as excited as she was about the whole ordeal.

It was about the only thing that Zoe was right about that moment. Nathan Stark cursed the day that Jack Carter had stumbled into Eureka by sheer accident, wondering why on Earth he had to play the reluctant babysitter to Sheriff’s wayward daughter. He’d rather deal with the Sheriff, thank you very much.

But orders were orders, and if this.. project with Miss Zoe Carter would ensure that the Sheriff’s precious daughter would stay out of trouble then Nathan was more than happy to oblige. He wasn’t certain what the thing between him and Jack Carter was, but he wanted to explore it the best he could. Things would be easier though, if Zoe Carter would start to behave like a responsible young woman, instead of running around and causing havoc with her somewhat illegal activities. Nathan was only glad that he didn’t have any children.

While Nathan was more concentrated on how he would best solve the case of one Jack Carter, Zoe had wandered off from his office, an escape plan on her mind. It had been almost too easy to slip to the corridor unnoticed – now all she had to do was to get outside before anyone caught her and reported her actions to her dad. Piece of cake. Now, should she go left or right? The decision was an easy one to make, since Zoe heard a bunch of noises coming from her left. Without a second glance Zoe took the corridor leading to the right, completely missing the sign saying “INJURY PREVENTION AND RESEARCH CENTER – ENTER WITH CAUTION!”.

It soon became obvious for Zoe though that maybe the route she had chosen wasn’t the best possible one. So far she had almost been hit by a car, had a piano almost dropped to her head and finally she had slipped into a swimming pool filled with ice cold water. Now she had road rash on her knees and elbows, splinters in her hair _(how on earth she was going to get them off?)_ , her clothes were soaking wet and she was freezing. What a great day.

Meanwhile Nathan had noticed Zoe’s disappearance, and with a sigh he pulled out the feed from the security cameras pointing to the corridors outside his office. To his astonishment all he could see was static and random frames popping up in his screen. Further investigation revealed that Zoe had managed to hack into the GD database and disabled the cameras pointing directly to the corridor, ensuring that no one had any idea where she might have went. Nathan chuckled to himself – the girl was definitely a genius, and would fit well to the Tesla High School once she got her head straight. First Nathan had to find Zoe though.

Nathan stepped out from his office, trying to figure out where Zoe had headed. Thinking to himself, Nathan tried to imagine where he would go if he were a teenage girl with a rebellious streak. The thought process came to an abrupt end when Nathan heard a scream coming from the direction of Section 6. A scream that sounded a lot like Zoe Carter in danger.

Nathan swore under his breath and started running towards the sound. His long strides took him to Section 6 in no time, and the sight he encountered was terrifying and hilarious at the same time. It looked like Zoe had managed to bump into most of the researches going on at the Injury Prevention Center, based on her not-so-groomed look she was currently having. Nathan might not have been a teenager anymore, but he doubted that splinters in hair and soaking wet clothes, along with serious road rash, were the top of the fashion at the moment.

Zoe, in her disheveled state, had managed to tumble into the latest research the IPC had just launched. They were testing what happens to a person when they would accidentally drop from an open window in different heights, and unfortunately Zoe had managed to place herself in place of the test dummy they had just dropped from a seven-story building. Understandably Zoe wasn’t too keen of the idea, and was trying her best to hold on from the window ledge, her grip slipping by the minute.

“Doctor Stark, you can’t go there! The structure might collapse at any minute! Besides…”

“I’ll take my chance! Alert the infirmary on stand-by!”

Nathan rushed to the building, determined to save Zoe before she would drop down with drastic consequences. Getting Sheriff’s daughter hurt while he was supposed to keep an eye on her wasn’t going to help him to win Jack’s heart so to speak. What Nathan forgot though were the top-of-the-art security systems all the facilities had these days, thanks to Jack’s persistence. So, instead of being the great hero saving the day, Nathan found himself and Zoe covered in Henry’s impact-resisting foam moments before they hit the ground.

Needless to say, neither Zoe nor Nathan was keen to let Jack know how their day had turned out, so they made a mutual agreement never to speak about it again. Later on the afternoon when Jack came to collect Zoe, they were eager to reassure Jack that everything was in order and Zoe had behaved. Jack wasn’t totally buying it, but let it go because he didn’t feel like questioning Nathan Stark. After all, he had some other ideas concerning the scientist, and arguing wasn’t part of those ideas.

Next time when Jack asked him to keep an eye on Zoe, Nathan politely declined.


End file.
